1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking station with a glass-ceramic bowl, which has a circumferential upstanding (not flanged) edge and a sunken curved heating surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Glass-ceramic cooking ware including curved bowls, so-called woks, has been marketed for many years. This type of cooking ware and its manufacture are described, for example, in DE 199 06 520 A1.
The bowls are used first directly as cooking vessels, i.e. the curved heated surface is directly employed for food preparation and second these curved bowls are employed as supports for metallic woks, which are heated by induction and in which the food is directly prepared. The metallic, typically spherical, curved wok bowl sits in an appropriately shaped glass-ceramic bowl. An induction coil is arranged under the glass-ceramic bowl.
Glass-ceramic vessels are not only formed as curved bowls, but also trough-shaped or oval cooking units made of glass-ceramic material.
Cooking stations with glass-ceramic bowls of the prior art with a circumferential upstanding edge are typically formed as stand-alone units with a table-mounted frame, which receives the glass-ceramic bowl and the required heating device. This stand-alone cooking unit is typically placed on a working panel in the kitchen. This sort of cooking unit is described in DE 297 09 765 U1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,642.
The frame of this known cooking unit is comparatively bulky and awkward. It takes up a comparatively great amount of space on the working panel. The handling of this cooking unit is comparatively troublesome because of the room required for the frame with the glass-ceramic bowl and the heating device.
A glass-ceramic supporting bowl for a metallic wok has been built into a conventional working panel of a modern kitchen. This glass-ceramic support vessel is described in DE 298 20 731 U1, which is equivalent to EP 0 629 820 A2. In the known case the supporting vessel has a flange-shaped circular bordering edge, with which it bears in an opening or cavity in the working panel. This engineering disadvantageously requires an expensive molded or shaped glass-ceramic bowl.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking station of the above-described type with a flange-less glass-ceramic vessel, which can be built into the working panel or a suitable working environment in a simple and safe manner, even when the construction of a supporting or bearing flange is faulty.
According to the invention the cooking station comprises a working panel or other cooking station component providing a working or cooking surface; a glass-ceramic bowl built into an opening provided in the working panel or other cooking station component, the glass-ceramic bowl having an upstanding edge and a sunken curved heating surface, the upstanding edge being arranged sunken to a predetermined depth below the working or cooking surface or flush with the working or cooking surface; attaching means for attaching the glass-ceramic bowl to the working panel or other cooking station component and a bottom pan attached under the glass-ceramic bowl, the bottom pan providing means for supporting heating elements for heating the glass-ceramic bowl.
The features of the invention advantageously provide a cooking station with the foregoing glass-ceramic bowl with an upstanding edge, without a table frame and without a xe2x80x9changing holderxe2x80x9d. This means that the upstanding edge does not have a flat bearing surface on a flanged upper edge so that the glass-ceramic bowl can be supported by means of the flat peripheral bearing surface provided e.g. on the underside of the flanged edge.
Different alternative structures are conceivable for building the glass-ceramic bowl into the cooking station.
A first embodiment of the invention provides attaching means comprising at least two attaching members arranged on opposite sides of the opening or a circumferential attaching member extending around the opening and at least one retaining bracket. The at least two attaching members or said circumferential attaching member are or is rigidly attached to a peripheral edge of the working or cooking surface around the opening in the working panel or cooking station component . The lower end of the at least one retaining bracket is connected to the bottom pan and to the at least two attaching members or to the circumferential attaching member. The upper end of the at least one retaining bracket is curved so that the glass-ceramic bowl rests on the upper end of the at least one retaining bracket with the upstanding edge flush with the working or cooking surface.
In order to avoid damage because of direct contact between the glass-ceramic surface of the bowl and metallic parts, buffering spacers are provided on bearing surfaces between the glass-ceramic bowl and a curved portion of the retaining bracket. This guarantees a definite spacing between both parts.
A transitional joint between the edge of the glass-ceramic bowl and the working panel or other cooking station component is provided in order to prevent cooking material or cleaning agents from falling into the interior of the cooking station. This transitional joint comprises a permanently elastic adhesive material.
So that an exactly flush termination of the upper edge of the built in glass ceramic bowl with the working or cooking surface is obtained, the invention provides a height adjusting device between the attaching means and the bottom pan.
A second embodiment of the invention provides a frame part with a frame member overlapping the peripheral edge of the opening in the cooking or working surface. In this other embodiment the frame part is used to mount the glass-ceramic bowl in the opening of the cooking or working surface by means of a permanently elastic adhesive and it is also connected with the bottom pan.
This sort of construction permits the glass-ceramic bowl to be pre-mounted in the frame part and then built into the working surface as a structural unit. Then later, if a repair is necessary, the structural unit can be taken out from the working surface.
In order to stabilize the glass-ceramic bowl mechanically an embodiment is provided, in which a curved metallic retaining bracket is provided which is connected at one end with the frame part and provides a bearing surface for the glass-ceramic bowl at the other end.
In order to avoid a damaging direct contact between the glass-ceramic material of the bowl and metal components or parts and to provide a permanent fixed mounting of the glass-ceramic bowl in the frame part and/or in relation to the mounting bracket, buffering spaces are provided on the bearing surfaces between the glass-ceramic bowl and the retaining bracket. The glass-ceramic bowl is connected also with this retaining bracket by means of a permanently elastic adhesive material.
In a preferred embodiment in which the cooking station has a continuously open glass-ceramic bowl the frame part is constructed with an overlapping frame member, which overlaps the upper edge of the glass-ceramic bowl so that upper edge is flush or even with the working or cooking surface.
Alternatively another preferred embodiment provides a frame part with its overlapping frame member so that the upper edge of the glass-ceramic bowl is sunken a predetermined amount for receipt of a cover, whose upper surface is even or flush with the cooking or working surface.
In this latter embodiment the cooking station would have a closed working surface when the glass-ceramic bowl is not in use.